Accouuntability: Defined in Praise or Critque?

"Who screwed up?"
"Who approved this new date?"
"Who was suppose to follow up on this?"
"Why didn't we hit our numbers?"

At these times the big word is dropped...ACCOUNTABILITY. Ironically accountability is looked for in most organizations and pointed to when things go wrong. Is it any wonder that people don't get excited when they hear the word accountability?

So why not reverse it in your company? Start looking for those who ARE executing properly and celebrate their successes.

The truth is when you have high accountability you have high execution. The two go hand in hand. What we usualy do is bring up and focus our team's on accountability when we see a LACK of it rather than an abundance of it. Those who are executing are often ignored and time is spent on putting out fires instead.

So in order to execute you need to reverse how people see and view accountability.
Here are some interesting statistics on the work place:
Zogby Poll
One of every 4 working American's describes their workplace as a dictatorship
Only 52% said their boss treats subordinates well.
Only 51% said their co-workers often fell motivated at work
90)% of all people say that Senior Management Teams fail to define results.

Think about that last one..how can people be accountable for what they don't know?

Take Action: Make your strategic plans simple to follow and execute All people in your company should know what they are and what they need to do in order to execute to them. They should clearly know the rewards if these strategies are achieved.

Anne Warfield
Management Leadership